HypnoBirthing

I had an amazing home birth, and things could not have gone more wonderfully if we tried. The surges started at 8pm when Tim got home from work on Friday and she was born at 4.29am Saturday morning.

It was all very quick – Tim put the birthing pool up but there wasn’t time to fill it, so our little girl was born on the bed in the back bedroom.

There wasn’t time to contact my parents to collect Poppy (the dog) as everything happened so quickly, so she was downstairs for the whole birth and was so calm and good- she just stayed in her bed the whole time!! Poppy has been so protective over Fleur – the perfect big sister!!

HypnoBirthing was a fantastic tool during the labour and birth. I didn’t have any pain relief and felt confident and calm with Tim by my side.

Thank you for everything, it’s safe to say that HypnoBirthing definitely works!!

Susan and Paul’s 2016 Birth Story

I started having proper surges at about 7pm the evening before he was born, we were actually in Paul’s studio at the time as he wanted to get a picture of the bump! So thinking we would have a long time we came home so I could be more comfortable, ate dinner and I lay on the sofa snoozing and breathing through the few surges that came, I tried having a bath to help relax but due to only having a short bath and making it too hot did not find it helped!

We then went to bed and I slept between surges though at around 4am I started becoming uncomfortable and was pacing/ crawling around, to try and find a way to be comfortable. Paul rang the hospital and as my waters had not broken we were told only to go in if I felt I needed too. We decided to head for Kings and arrived at 5am as I just couldn’t get comfortable at home and I was keen to try and get into water.

Whilst in triage they asked for a urine sample, the effort of trying to give them one caused my waters to break. At this point I was finding being on all fours most comfortable & I had spent my time in the waiting room like that. Paul has since compared the sounds coming from the maternity ward, as similar to something you would hear on Saving Private Ryan! However, thanks to the techniques you taught, us I just concentrated on breathing and was able to ignore it all! The triage nurse was surprised to find I was 7cm dilated and they were happy for us to stay and use a birthing suite.

The midwife prepared the suite for us and filled the pool. We dimmed all of the lights and closed the blinds so that we had a calm & comfortable environment for the birth. I’m not too aware of much after this in terms of timings, but I do know we had a midwife change at around 7.30am.

Our new midwife was slightly less experienced than the first and she did more checks than the previous one. The regular checks of baby’s heart rate made us both slightly concerned, and we had a bizarre point around 10am where someone came to see if I wanted lunch and turned on all the lights, (one of which they could not switch off luckily Paul came up with some ingenious way of covering it as it shone right in the pool) somewhat ruining the atmosphere! Paul thinks that these interruptions slowed things down, again i just thought about breathing and relaxing. We began using the scripts & affirmations more at these points to help get back into a relaxed state.

At some point the midwife said that if my surges started to make me feel the need to push, that I should start to push. I felt unsure about this, as I was waiting for a more noticeable change in the feeling between an up-surge and a pushing one. I also thought there might be a break between the two.

At some point I started to use the J breath, rather than pushing and our baby started to come. I could feel him getting close, but at the end of the surge he was going back up. At this point I was struggling a little with the J breath & Paul started reading the script to remind me how to do it. (I think I was just breathing out) He had been reading the scripts and affirmations to me throughout which helped me to focus.

I was still using the J breath at this stage, but the midwives (there were two now) started to panic a little and told me to start pushing hard. Strangely at this point it felt like the gap between the surges had increased. Anyway, with tiredness setting in and being slightly concerned by the tone of the midwives, I did as I was told.

Ethan was born slightly blue/grey and they asked to cut the cord and take him immediately to get him breathing. I felt strongly that from what we had seen with you that he would be ok but the feeling of them panicking lead us to agree.

After warming him under a heat lamp & giving him a rub down they brought him back to me and we stayed in the water for a while. We then moved to a bed where we could all lie together and have some skin on skin time. At this point Paul also had some skin to skin time and I fed Ethan a little.

I declined the oxytocin injection to deliver the placenta at first, but at some point they asked again if I would like it as I had not delivered it naturally. I agreed and the placenta was delivered about 15 minutes later.

The midwife later told me that she had never seen anyone hypnobirth and not actively push the baby the whole time, she said that having experienced my birth she would like to do that herself when she had a baby. We took that as a real thumbs-up!

A lot has changed in the 3 months since Ethan was born and it has been an incredibly rewarding and positive time. We both look back at Ethan’s birth with positivity and a sense of achievement at having the birth we hoped for. I was so scared of the idea of birth before we did our course with you, and although I stressed about not doing enough practice, I would not hesitate to recommend hypnobirthing to anyone and would not feel at all scared should we ever decide to have another baby.

I also must not sign off without saying thank you so much for all you taught us, it really did take all the fear out of the situation as we felt equipped to deal with whatever happened and as it turned out I think we were some of the lucky ones with a boring birth.

Cara and James’ 2015 HypnoBirthing Story

We began as planned, with a home birth. It was beautiful. A pool overlooking the garden with just James and a lovely midwife who respected our wishes and followed our lead. It was 20 perfect hours before the baby’s heart rate changed and I was blue lighted to Mayday. Needless to say the labour ward wasn’t as serene as home, but I felt safe and they did their best to accommodate my preferences. The heart rate returned to normal after an hour but it became clear 12 hours later that due to the baby’s position and head angle I was unable to deliver without help. Prepped for a C-section I was promptly taken to theatre. Thankfully, the surgeon managed to turn baby successfully with the ventouse and I was then able to finally push her out. Our beautiful daughter, Phoebe was born.

Despite the setbacks I felt completely calm and remained ‘in the zone’. I practiced hypnobirthing for the entire labour and can honestly say that without it I would have had an awful and negative experience. Instead, it was magical. Crazy to say it and people still don’t believe me, but I felt so positive during and afterwards. Exhausted and hungry but happy.

Thank you so much for your class. I cannot tell you how reluctant and sceptical I was at the beginning, if it wasn’t for James I wouldn’t have gone, but since then I haven’t stopped raving about it to anyone who will listen. I was so scared of labour and was really dreading it. But your class provided us with the tools and education to make informed decisions, have some control and actually enjoy the experience.

I hope there’s a next time and we get to try for a home birth again. But one things for sure, I’ll be giving you a call.

Marsela and Jason’s 2016 Birth Story

My last session with Marsela and Jason was when Marsela was 38 weeks pregnant. They went straight from our last session to hospital for a routine check up and they contacted me the same day to say that Marsela was being induced. They let me know what happened the following day:

Jason: We could not wait to tell you that our baby has been born and is a beautiful peaceful boy named Aniello which means little lamb. We were in delivery a total of 14 minutes, yes you did read that correctly…hypnobirthing techniques used! Thank you for everything.

Marsela: I want to thank you so much for all your help and support. HypnoBirthing is an amazing way to have an easy birth, especially for women in first pregnancy as we dont now what will happen in practice.Now we have a little angel in family ,Aniello. I wish you all the best Helen.

Shellie and Simon’s 2013 HypnoBirthing Story

Just to let you know and to say thank you SO much for everything… Sebastian was born on his due date in our birthing pool at home.

Labour started at 1am with a slight trickle & some achey cramps. I managed to get back to sleep by 3am after listening to the CD. I saw a client from 8.30am-10, went shopping in town for a few groceries (had a few gentle surges round Waitrose) then prepared lunch for Si & our friend Vanessa. I was having surges every 6-9 minutes. Then my Mummy arrived & we sat & chatted for a while between surges which got closer together & stronger quite quickly. I got in the shower and then the birth pool. I thought that I had hours to go so was delaying a bit!

I kneeled & moved around a bit in the pool. I breathed slowly & deeply through all of my surges which were coming every 1-2mins & just as I was thinking “gosh I hope I don’t have to do this for 18hrs, this is a bit much!”, Si asked if he should call the midwife & I said yes & then the surges just switched their nature and began pushing our little baby down. These were SO much easier than they had just been & I felt the endorphins release with each squeeze downward of my body. I just breathed & kind of grunted over the next hour.

There was a bit of anxiety around me as no one got back to Simon. My contractions were pretty close so I couldn’t really talk but was calm & focused on my breathing.

The midwife on the phone was panicking at poor Si, called the paramedics & insisted I get out of the pool! I held in there for as long as I could. The paramedics were actually very calm, just needed me out of the water as they weren’t trained & they let me go slowly over several surges. Then luckily THE most heavenly midwife arrived & said that I could get straight back in the pool.

Within what felt like 5mins to me but I think was about 20, the baby’s head was out, with my body doing everything & me breathing (and hoping that all of my perineal stretching would pay off). I just focused on my breath & hoped for the best!

My little wriggle bottom then really made me uncomfortable by wriggling around with his head out looking calmly up at Simon who was in the pool ready to be the first person to touch him. Then the final surge came and out he popped, into Simon’s waiting hands. He passed Sebastian to me and we just sat & looked at one another, all 3 of us together in the pool.

The midwife was quiet & calm & he just lay there looking at us & learning to breathe. She said that he was the only baby in all of her years practicing that had an APGAR of 10 at 1 minute and that she’d remember him forever. There was no hassle to get out of the pool or to clamp or cut the cord. He suckled a little & the placenta came out under water almost completely on its own.

Honestly Helen we were SO blessed to have her as the on call midwife, she was perfect. It was a wonderful experience, perfect in every way.

Our heartfelt thanks to you for your wonderful tuition. We loved our two days with you, it was such a pleasure to meet you & get to know you a little. You are welcome round for cuddles, tea & birth cake any time!

Thank you again.

Mark and Caroline’s 2013 HypnoBirthing Story

Caroline wasn’t initially sure if HypnoBirthing was right for them.

Caroline has a couple of contraction type feelings in the night that have woken her up and then another as I got up at 5.30am. The surges continue during the day and by 8pm I’m timing the surges. Caroline’s leaning against the chair and breathing through them. At 11pm the surges are 4-8 minutes apart so we ring the hospital.

The midwife asks, “On a scale of one to ten where one is a pinch and ten is the worst pain you’ve ever experienced what are you feeling?”

“Four, maybe?”

“Right, you probably only want to think about coming in when you’re more like a 10.”

Caroline slumps back on the sofa, deflated, “I was hoping it wouldn’t ever get to a ten.”

Caroline says I might as well get some sleep and then wakes me at 1am wanting to go to hospital now that the surges are 3-5 minutes apart.

We reach the hospital around 2am. Caroline is coping well but is feeling nauseous.

“Right”, says the smiling midwife, “The cervix has definitely thinned out…I can feel the baby’s head so that’s good, he has a nice, strong heartbeat… I’d say you’re about….2-3 cm…so that’s really good. I don’t know if you want to go for a walk, or go home?”

“Let’s go and have a wander in the car park.” I say, sounding as calm as I can.

We walk around the car park for about 40 minutes, stopping regularly as Caroline leans on me through her surges. She’s still nauseous. We sit in the car for five minutes and have a cuddle and then start to waddle back to the front door. Five steps from the car, Caroline is sick.

We make our way back in at c.4am. She was still breathing her surges down. A new midwife takes us in and asks what sort of birth we’re hoping for. Just the fact that we’re not being told to go away again is such a relief and we go through to the Daisy Room where the midwife starts running the water in the pool.

I go down to the car to collect our bags. As I get back the midwife is just finishing examining her and Caroline is slowly getting into the bath.

“I’m 9-10cm, by the way,” she says. It takes me a second to work out what she’s talking about.

I could have cried. I’m so happy for her it’s not even true. At that point I was certain she was going to be fine. She had basically finished the whole first stage and in that context what she had gone through was fine. To be working through those surges and be 2cm was an awful prospect – 45 minutes later and we were at 10cm and ready to have a baby.

Caroline lowering herself into the pool was a lovely thing. It was like she was being swallowed by melted marshmallows, the stress went from her face, her breathing became slow and rhythmical. After she said it was like being given a big, warm hug all over and she was instantly more comfortable.

She was able to breathe the baby down and was telling the midwife she could feel the head coming, and then again when it was going back in. She was really calm and kept breathing through the surges.

The midwife held the mirror under her and giggled.

“He…she’s…still in the bag, but there’s a little hole in it so there’s a tiny tuft of hair sticking out.”

I had a glance. “It looks like he’s having highlights done.” I reported back.

A minute later and the head was out. Another few seconds drip past, one more surge and our baby is being passed up to her.

We had a little cuddle and a cry, I cut the cord and after examination (no stitches) Caroline had a shower and we collapsed together onto the double bed.

She cannot speak highly enough of you and HypnoBirthing (and the birth pool and midwives at East Surrey). She’s adamant there’s no way she would have done that anywhere so easily, let alone with no pain meds, without your help. For me, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. She was amazing, she was calm and in control and it was basically the perfect birth. We couldn’t have wished for it to go any better and I think you’re a large part of the reason why.

So now we’re on to nappies and 3am feeds and all the rest of it. We’re really happy.

Thank you.

Zara and Dan’s 2013 HypnoBirthing Story

We just wanted to let you know that our baby girl made her grand entrance at 01.31am on Thursday 30th in the Birth Centre at Queen Charlotte’s. She was a couple of days early and weighed in at a somewhat hefty 9lb 04oz

The HypnoBirthing techniques were amazing, we managed to stay at home for a lovely long time (only getting to hospital at 20.00pm on Weds eve) and then ended up in the birthing pool which was fab. The midwives were fantastic and really on board with our wishes. They had some concerns about how spaced out and ‘gentle’ the contractions were – even in advanced labour, but they supported us to stay in the centre rather than transferring to the medical ward for any intervention. Bub was born out of the water after a really gentle, controlled period of active labour – although I was very vocal and was starting to loose all energy towards the end.

Thanks for all your support – the HypnoBirthing was great, we used the techniques throughout and Dan was incredinble at keeping me relaxed and calm throughout – his hand was well and truely attached to my shoulder!

Gill and Nof’s 2013 HypnoBirthing Story

I had my second baby in Feb this year and I couldn’t wait to put the HypnoBirthing techniques that Helen had taught us, into practice again. My first experience of childbirth was amazing, which I credit to HypnoBirthing, and particularly Helen’s calm, relaxed and light hearted approach.

When we had our initial lessons, we were given so much information to refer back to (book, CD, Workbook) which made it really easy for us to refresh our memories. After refreshing my memory I knew that there were areas I could improve on. For example, I wanted to ignore the midwife when she told me to push! It goes against the Hypnobirthing approach and isn’t necessary. It paid off and I’m so pleased that my last experience of childbirth was such an amazing one!

Women should walk away from childbirth feeling empowered and Hypnobirthing offers that. Helen was an excellent teacher and I would highly recommend her to all.

Madeleine and Nathan’s 2013 HypnoBirthing Story

Madeleine’s pregnancy went to 42 weeks and an induction was considered the best course of action:

Our little baby boy Harrison was finally born on Friday at 4.40pm weighing 8lb 12oz and is doing really well.

I was in labour for 14 hrs and after being induced, had an epidural, an episotomy and a ventouse delivery in hospital. A far cry from our home birth plan but we are all well and delighted to have such a happy healthy baby boy.

The hypnobirthing was my absolute saviour during labour. Nathan read me the birth companion script during an unexpected euphoric moment of labour which made me so emotional and made me feel so spiritual I could see angels!!

The affirmations were a godsend too. They really helped me relax and get through the surges and the delivery.

Thank you so much for teaching us all about hypnobirthing. It made our experience such a positive one even though our birth plan almost completely flew out the window!! We both did the skin to skin contact, Nathan told me the sex of the baby when he came out and I did all the right breathing techniques the whole way through.

Nathan’s Thoughts on the HypnoBirthing Course

It would be fair to say that Nathan was initially sceptical.

The HypnoBirthing course took away the uncertainty of labour and pregnancy and has chilled out both my wife and me. I was quite a cynic to start with and thought it was interesting to challenge our perception of what labour is going to be like.

This course made me realise that the experience of birth could actually be a pleasurable one and quite spiritual. Talking about it on the course took away the stress and worry about what might happen.

It has worked as much for me as it has for my wife. It really connected us on a deeper level. The balance of practical and theory throughout the course really appealed to my man brain! The meditation and hypnobirthing practices have been useful in everyday life to relax us as well as our practice for birthing.

I really enjoyed the course and have already recommended it to other people. It’s definitely worth doing!

Julia and Stuart’s 2012 HypnoBirthing Story

I decided to do HypnoBirthing after a recommendation from a friend who found it fantastic. Although I was a little sceptical and my husband was very sceptical I thought it would be worth giving anything a go for an easier labour.

Using HypnoBirthing I ended up having the dream labour. Contractions started at midnight. We arrived at hospital about 4 o’clock 5 cm dilated. I was in the birthing pool by 6 AM and to the surprise of my midwives gave birth at 7:23 AM with no drugs required not even gas and air. I would describe the pain as uncomfortable, but my birthing plan indicated that the midwives not offer me pain relief unless I asked, and the uncomfortable feeling was not significant enough for it to cross my mind to ask. Clearly HypnoBirthing had a big part to play in achieving this. Additionally I did not tear at all and have not been sore since. I put this down to the perineal massage suggested by HypnoBirthing.

Helen the Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner I chose to have the lessons with was superb. She had a great calm but no messing manner and handled my highly sceptical husband well. I would thoroughly recommend her.

My husband is saying to his mates “If Carlsberg did labours ….”

If you are reading this wondering if it is worth the money, with no guarantee you will have a labour like mine, I would say if it gives you a chance you could have a birth like mine, then it is worth every penny.

Julia hasn’t mentioned in her testimonial that Alexi was born ‘in the caul’ i.e. in the amniotic sac. This is considered to be very lucky. It is also a sign that Julia was very relaxed and that her midwife allowed the birth to play out naturally.

Caroline and Warwick’s 2012 HypnoBirthing Story

We contacted Helen for a HypnoBirthing Refresher class. Helen was very responsive, informative and has a lovely manner, which I really warmed to. She came to our house, spent time with my husband and I, revisiting forgotten techniques and in many cases explaining some things much better than our original practitioner.

At a late stage in pregnancy (c. 36 weeks from memory), I was told that the baby was breech. Helen was my first port of call for a Hypnobirthing breech baby-turning session and she came to my house within 1-2 days – thankfully as I was desperate to turn the little cherub. I tried several tips and tricks including visualisation (guided by Helen). Who knows what made the baby turn, but it worked and we successfully managed the home birth in the pool.

Helen comes across as a very calm, relaxed practitioner. She was incredibly responsive as regards scheduling appointments, punctual to the minute and lovely with it. I would highly recommend her (and already have on more than one occasion!)

Francesca and Baydon’s 2012 HypnoBirthing Story

I went into at 3am on Sunday 25th and spent the day timing surges on my iPhone app but they were pretty irregular so I was mostly watching TV and sleeping. They started off about every 7-10 mins then started to speed up to about every 4-5 mins so we went in to Croydon University Hospital at about 10pm. I was cool as a cucumber at this point. The 1st hurdle was triage when they discovered I had a really high pulse rate which meant I wouldn’t be able to go to the Birth Centre. They suggested that I was dehydrated and they said if I could bring my pulse rate down through hydration I could be transferred to the birth centre.

The midwife we had that night and the one in the morning were both fantastic – particularly the one on the Monday who was there until the birth. On Sunday night I was still going strong with my breathing techniques and visualisation and Baydon was able to really keep me on track. It was actually amazing how any pain melts away when you relax into the surge. The Monday midwife was really familiar with HypnoBirthing and was totally respectful of all our birth preferences. She really acted as a first line of defence for us when the doctors started suggesting things.

On Monday they started talking about breaking my waters to -as you said- get things moving. The midwife gave us loads of time and options to consider. By 2.30pm we’d tried various things and I’d been going 36 hours so we decided to go for it. In hindsight I’m unsure whether this was the right decision but we know that ultimately it was our decision and no one talked us into it. My pulse rate was also still very high which was an important factor.

The surges picked up pace and intensity very quickly after that. Before we knew what was what they’d increased to the point where they were back to back which meant that I wasn’t getting the respite between surges to get my head together. Even 30 seconds would have been nice! I very quickly made the decision to have an epidural and once that was done I was absolutely elated. However, after the epidural, her heart rate dropped so they really wanted to just get her out. Our midwife was fantastic about explaining how this would affect our birth preferences and what the risks and options were. I had a ventouse delivery and ended up combining that with coughing to get her out as that was what worked! Frida had been fully engaged for 5 weeks so once they went in for her it didn’t take long at all. I did have an episiotomy although I asked not to so the obstetrician said he’d do his best. I ended up with just a small cut and a few stitches which he said would have been a lot more had I not been doing the perineal massage. They’ve completely healed now, less than 2 weeks later.

We had immediate skin to skin and as soon as the paediatrician was happy she was fine they all cleared out and left us alone in the room for a couple hours which was really lovely.

Ultimately labour was 40 hours and for 36 of those I was feeling great – I like to think HypnoBirthing on its own got me 90% of the way there! We also both felt 100% that decisions were our own and where they were dictated it was by circumstance rather than opinion. I came away feeling really quite positive about my birth.

So today she was officially registered. We’re getting out once a day and she’s gaining weight and we’re breast feeding like there’s no tomorrow! She’s an absolute treasure and doesn’t grumble too much and sleeps at night a reasonable amount. She’s totally enchanting and entertaining.

Thank you so much for all your guidance as it really helped us to have the most positive birth possible and obviously we’re totally made up with the outcome!

Siobhan and Paul’s 2011 HypnoBirthing Story

I gave birth to our beautiful son Michael on 3rd January weighing 8lbs 4oz. We are so happy and enjoying being new parents.

After a few days of irregular surges we finally made our way to the hospital just before midnight on the 2nd January when my surges were no more than 3 minutes apart and my waters had just broken. On arrival at the hospital I was happy and relieved that there was room for me in the birthing centre. The lovely midwife wanted to assess how things were progressing so I agreed to an examination; she wasn’t convinced that I was in established labour as I seemed too calm. When she examined me I was already more than 7cm dilated!

I can honestly say I enjoyed the next few hours of labour! I spent my time in the birthing room listening to my own music and relaxing in the pool with my fiancé Paul. My Mother and Sister were also in the room with me and between surges we laughed and joked with our midwife whilst working our way through a massive box of expensive chocolates!

My forewaters broke at roughly 9am and unfortunately there was grade 2 meconium found in my water. This meant I had to be transferred to the delivery suite so that I could be more closely monitored. Even though I was disappointed that I could no longer have a water birth I remained positive and concentrated on my breathing and relaxation.

My surges became more intense and I spent the next hour or so standing up and breathing through them. I even did a little dance during my surges which helped me feel relaxed! I was surprised when the midwife told me I was ready to push as I thought I had at least a few more hours to go! The midwife told me to push when I have my next contraction. I told her I didn’t know when I was having the contractions as I could not feel them! I had to ask the midwife to check the monitor to tell me when I was having them! The midwife said to the paediatrician that had just walked into the room that she had never seen anything like it!

The one thing apart from breathing that really helped me during surges was visualising the picture of the uterus rising. Focusing on this took my mind off how intense the surges were and I felt totally in control the whole time. I didn’t even need gas and air! I can honestly say it didn’t hurt and I’m sure people don’t believe me when I say the last part was the easiest and I enjoyed it!

Thank you so much for helping prepare us for our birth. I can’t thank you enough! We will always have such happy memories of giving birth to Michael. I want to do it all over again!

Siobhan has since had another baby boy, Patrick. His birth was easy too!

Gill & Nof’s 2010 HypnoBirthing Story

Gill: To my surprise, my waters broke 3 weeks before my estimated due date! The classes that we had with Helen really helped to keep me calm because I knew what was happening so wasn’t afraid and the positive affirmations I had been listening to on the Rainbow CD came straight to mind.

I phoned the hospital and they said I should go in so the baby could be monitored. The baby was fine and as my surges hadn’t properly started yet (they only felt like strong period pains) I was allowed to go home which I was really pleased with. As it was the evening I thought I better try and get some sleep before things really got going! I played the Rainbow CD and slept until 3am when I woke to much stronger surges. I stayed in bed for about an hour practicing my slow breathing and then went down stairs to sit on my birth ball and continue with my breathing and my husband gave me the light touch massage which really helped. I timed my surges and when they lasted over a minute and were 2 minutes apart I phoned the hospital. I don’t think the midwife I spoke to believed that I was ready to come in, because I was so calm. She tried to persuade me to stay at home longer but I knew that my labour was already quite advanced so we made our way to the hospital.

They examined me after about half an hour; they were amazed that I was fully dilated. I truly believe that this was because I worked with my body every step of the way and helped the baby’s descent through effective breathing techniques and because I was calm, my body naturally did what it was supposed to do. After another hour and a half and with the help of birth breathing and visualisation our beautiful baby boy had arrived! He was alert and I felt totally exhilarated and empowered! We had skin to skin contact and he latched on to breast feed very quickly.

My husband and I really enjoyed our classes with Helen. She helped us to feel totally relaxed and explained the concept of HypnoBirthing perfectly. We had fun with the classes and learnt an awful lot! We knew how important it was to put into practice everything that Helen taught us, so we tried to practice as much as possible and listened to the Rainbow CD most nights. The breathing techniques we learnt also helped us both in our day to day to lives and I can now see how effective positive affirmations and visualisation can be, it’s very powerful!

I had such an amazing birthing experience. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Helen and HypnoBirthing®. I would highly recommend the course to anyone!

Nof’s Story:

Gill and I are the proud parents of Santino.

Prior to the birth we were bombarded by our friends’ birth stories which included 36 hour labour, all manner of drugs and potions, and lots and lots of pain and screaming!

Gill’s labour lasted for just seven hours. I’m in no doubt that this was due to the breathing exercises and visualisation learnt during Helen’s HypnoBirthing classes.

As the Dad, it was amazing to feel part of the whole experience and to help keep Gill focused on her breathing.

Santino was born alert and calm with no distress. It is absolutely true that a baby will pick up on their mother’s anxieties.

Incidentally, I use the techniques gained during our HypnoBirthing sessions for everyday life

Helen was brilliant and I have no hesitation in recommending her for HypnoBirthing®.

Gill and Nof are now the proud parents of a little girl, Isabella. Another easy birth!